Intra Lighting, leading producer of designer lighting solutions, is addressing the issue of heat from LED lights. In collaboration with LATI, it has chosen LATICONTHER thermally conductive plastic materials for its radiators. LATICONTHER 62 GR/50-V0 offers high thermal conductivity, resistance and fire safety. LATI thermally conductive plastic materials are confirmed as a winning choice for efficient thermal management and for the development of lightweight and sustainable products.
The Slovenian company Intra Lighting is a European leader in the production of designer luminaires and smart lighting solutions. Characterised by rigorous attention to detail, Intra Lighting fixtures combine forms, by world-leading designers, with functionality, which must always be perfect and in line with regulatory and project requirements. LED light sources have also entered the world of Intra Lighting products, replacing traditional sources and giving rise to completely new technical and technological needs. These include the need to carefully cool the electronics used to generate sometimes very intense light beams.
Aluminium radiators are, of course, often used to ensure safe management of the heat given off by generators and LEDs: these range from simple extruded profile sections to complex die-cast geometries that require further finishing.
To create radiators for a new series of recessed spots, Intra Lighting wanted the designers to start focusing on ways to replace metal with LATI’s LATICONTHER thermally conductive compounds.
To perfectly manage the heat generated by LED electronics, the dissipating element must be as effective and efficient as the metal version, and must also possess very high dimensional stability, which is essential to ensure flatness of the seat and optimal contact between the surfaces involved in the heat exchange. In addition, it must also be resistant to high temperatures. Metal is known to have this quality, but with polymers it remains to be verified.
Finally, the safety requirements for this specific project specify that the plastic parts must also be flame resistant in order to avoid the risk of fire should unforeseen events occur.
The material successfully selected by Intra Lighting is LATICONTHER 62 GR/50-V0, a self-extinguishing version of the well-known compound based on PA6 filled with 50% graphite.
Delivering thermal conductivity values well above 10 W/mK, this specific grade of the LATICONTHER family continues to demonstrate the reliable solutions also from a thermal, structural and even mechanical point of view, thanks to a formulation optimised to increase resistance to external stress.
Self-extinguishing is guaranteed by UL certification, which for the product in question, shows a UL94 V0 rating – the highest – down to a minimum thickness of 0.75 mm.
Thanks to their physical properties, great versatility and competitive costs, the LATICONTHERs have, over time, shown themselves to be a winning solution both in thermal management and in the development of fixtures that are lighter and more sustainable than conventional solutions.
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